Internal combustion engine



Oct. 8, 1935. J. G. VINCENT 2,016,879

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 31, 1952 gwoenkw ds'sss E. I "mrcszw-r Oct. 8, 1935. J. G. VINCENT INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed March 31, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Qyvuewtoc mm 9Q m m mm 1 E m 11 Q I I H r la\ mm mm ww m m5 3 R Oct. s, 1935.

J. G. VINCENT INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE s Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 51, 1952 gww/ntoz H5555 Z5. Max/275N1 1 abtomq Patented Oct. 8, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Application March 31, 1932, Serial No. 602,209

6 Claims.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines and more particularly to engine control mechanism.

An object of the invention is to provide a new and novel form of control mechanism for internal combustion engines which is of a character such that the engine R. P. M. will be maintained automatically at a predetermined constant irrespective of load.

Another object of my invention is to provide automatic control mechanism including servomeans for regulating fuel injection devices so that an engine will be maintained at a desired constant R. P. M.

A further object of the invention is to provide control mechanism for the fuel injection devices of a compression ignition engine in which servooperated mechanism is controlled by a governor which can be manually regulated to determine the effective relation of the governor.

Other objects of the invention will appear from the following description taken in connection with the drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view through an internal combustion engine with which my invention is incorporated;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of a fuel injection nozzle associated with a cylinder;

Fig. 3 is a'fragmentary vertical sectional view through the engine illustrating the control mechanism connected with injection devices on two sides of the cylinders;

Fig. 4.- is a horizontal sectional view of a fragment of the engine illustrating the fuel control mechanism and the associated servo-device and governor control;

Fig. is a sectional view of the manually adjustable portion of the control mechanism taken on line 55 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 4 illustrating the anti-creep mechanism .associated with the manually adjustable control mechanism.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference, ll! indicates the crank case-of internal combustion engine in which the crank shaft H is mounted in a conventional manner. A cylinder block is mounted on top of the crank case and includes a plurality of in-line cylinders as indicated at E2, there being a suitable water jacket chamber I3 surrounding the major portion of such cylinders. Mounted on the cylinder block is a head block l4 and suitable fastening means retains the crank case, cylinder block, and head block in fixed relation. At one side of the head block is fixed an exhaust manifold l5 and at the other side of the head block is fixed an air intake manifold l6. Pistons, as indicated at H, are

arranged in the cylinders and are connected with 5 the crank shaft I l by rods, as indicated at IS.

The engine illustrated is of the four cycle type in which air is drawninto the cylinders from the manifold l6 through Venturi passages l9 during the suction stroke of the pistons. charges are compressed during the compression stroke, and during such compression liquid fuel is injected in highly atomized form and'under high pressure. Such fuel charges ignite under heat of compression, .and combustion takes place type and the bore of the cylinders is of such diameter that a pair of devices is required to'inject fuel charges of a quantity and character such that there will be a proper intermingling of fuel with the compressed air in the cylinders to result in efficient operation of the engine. The passages 19 are related with the cylinders so that air passing therefrom will rotate and this is accomplished through arranging the passages tangentially to the inner walls of the cylinders and at an angle to the axis thereof. In this connection it should be noted that, in engines of this character, fuel charges are generally injected into the compressed air in the cylinders under a pressure of more than 2,000 pounds per square inch .and that the atomization thereof must be such that the 40 resulting spray will be quickly commingled with theair and gasified upon entering the cylinders,

as thetime for accomplishing this result is very short duev to the fact that injection takes place just before the pistons reach top center at the end of their compression strokes.

Because of the degree of atomization required for efficient gasification of the liquid fuel, penetration of the compressed air by the injection fuel is limited and as a result, with engines having a relatively large 7 cylinder bore, it is requisite that more than one injection device be utilized. In this connection, I have shown two injection devices preferably arranged so that they enter the cylinder in a substantially opposed relation. V

Such air 10 Each of the injection devices consist of a nozzle portion, indicated generally at 22, and a pump section 23. A portion of the nozzle section extends through the wall of the associated cylinder and there is a passage therethrough so that liquid fuel can be sprayed directly therefrom. The pump section includes an inner barrel 24 in which the piston 25 reciprocates, and surrounding each pump section casing is a housing forming a manifold 26, the manifolds of adjacent devices on each side of the engine being interconnected by conduits, as indicated at 21, which are in communication with a source of liquid fuel supply under a low pressure. Radial ports 23 extend through the pump casing and barrels and are in open communication with the manifolds 26, such ports being controlled by the movement of the plungers 25. low pressure, the portion of the pump section above the plunger will be maintained full of fuel whenever the ports 23 are uncovered by the plungers 25, but when the plungers 25 close the ports 28, then the fuel is trapped and further movement of the plungers will discharge fuel from the nozzle under a high pressure, the amount of fuel being discharged depending upon the stroke of the plungers after closing the ports.

Each plunger has a guide portion 29 which slides in the pump casing and a coil spring 35 is arranged in each pump casing and engages the guide 29 and normally urges the plunger into a position uncovering the ports 28. A push rod mechanism is associated with each of the guides 29 and each mechanism consists of a guide section 3! extending through a bearing 32 and an adjustable section 33 arranged within the crank case. Beneath each push rod section 33 is a rock lever 34, such levers being mounted at their outer ends on shafts 35. The free inner ends of the rock levers are provided with a longitudinally curving bearing face 35 upon which the lower end of a push rod section 33 bears, and beneath each of the rock levers is a cam 31. The cams on each side of the engine are mounted upon a shaft 38, and such pair of shafts are driven from the crank shaft by suitable mechanism of the usual character. It will be noted that the springs exert a pressure against the push rod mechanisms sufiicient to maintain them against the rock levers and which in turn are thus maintained in engagement with the cams.

Each of the nozzle sections of the injection devices are similar, and a description of one will suffice for all. It includes a casing 39 having an extended portion 53 projecting through the wall of the cylinder and a flanged portion 4| which is secured to the wall of a cylinder by bolts 42. Extending axially through the casing and its extension is a passage 43 in which is arranged a valve 44, the valve being grooved, as indicated at 45, to limit the flow of fuel through the extension as the passage in the extension and the valve are of substantially the same diameter. A coil spring 46 is arranged in the passage and bears against the casing extension 45 and a removable guide end 4'! on the valve so that the valve head 48 is normally urged toward the conical wall forming the outlet end of the passage in the extension. A stop member 49 extends through the nozzle casing and limits the movement of the valve so that the head will not quite touch the wall at the outlet end of the casing extension. The passage 43 communicates with the passage 5!] in the neck of the nozzle casing which is in communication with the passage in the pump casing containing the As the fuel supply is under a.

barrel 24, and a one-way spring pressed valve 5! is arranged in such passage to prevent back flow of the fuel from the nozzle section to the pump section.

Shafts 52 extend parallel with the cam shafts 38 and exteriorly thereof. Fixed on such shafts 52 are curved arms 53 which are arranged so that links 54 can connect the upper free ends thereof with the articulated sections 33 of the push rod mechanisms. It will be noted that the rock levers on opposite sides of the engine are arranged to extend in opposite directions, and therefore the push rod sections 33 must be moved in opposite directions along the curved faces of the rock levers in order to obtain similar adjustment of the push rod mechanisms on opposite sides of the cylinders. When the push rod sections 33 are in the adjustment shown in Fig. 1, a maximum stroke will be imparted to the plungers so that maximum fuel charges will be forced from the nozzle sections. As the push rod sections 33 are adjusted toward the pivoted end of the rock levers, the stroke imparted to the plungers becomes less and therefore the volume of the fuel charges delivered becomes less. The adjustment of the sections 33 of the push rod mechanisms is accomplished by rocking the arms which, by means of links 54, will push the rod sections anywhere along the curved faces of the rock levers. When the push rod sections are adjusted so that they are adjacent the ends of the curved rock lever faces nearest the shafts 35, then the reciprocation of the plungers is of such length that the ports 28 will not be closed and'then the engine will be stopped as no fuel will be injected into the cylinders.

The shafts 52 are connected by means which I will now describe so that they can be operated in unison. Near the front of the engine an arm 55 is fixed to one of the shafts 52 and a gear segment 55 is fixed to the other shaft 52. Meshing with such gear segment is another gear segment 5? which is journalled on a shaft 53 mounted in a housing 59 on one side of the crank case block. L'his gear segment 5? is in the form of a bell crank and has a fork portion 55 extending in an upward. direction, and transversely across the fork portion of the bell crank lever is a pin 5! secured by a nut 62. A rod 53 extends transversely of the crank case and one end thereof extends through an opening formed in the pin 5!, the other end being pivotally connected to the arm 55 on the shaft 52. This rod is provided with a flange 54 and the casing extension 59 is provided with a flange 55 to serve as bearings for the ends of a coil spring 55 which surrounds the rod 53. The end of the rod extending through the bolt 6! is threaded and the position of the rod relative to the fork 65 is determined and adjusted by means of the bearing member 57 and the nut 53. It will be seen that the geared relation of the segments 55 and 5? will cause the shafts 5'2 to be rotated. in opposite directions upon reciprocation of the rod 7 63 and thus the connections from the shafts 52 to the push rod sections 33 will cause a simultaneous and uniform regulation of all of the plunger portions of the injection devices.

In order to regulate the axial position of the rod 53, I propose to employ servo-mechanism which is automatically controlled by means of a governor, and the governor is of a character such that its effectiveness can be manually regulated.

On the front end of the shaft 52, adjacent the arm 55, is fixed a bracket 69 upon which a bell crank 10 is pivotally mounted by means of a pin H. Such bell crank extends in a horizontal plane and the arm 12 is provided with a forked end which engages with a sleeve 73 mounted upon the hollow shaft '55 of the servo-device. The end of such shaft engages with an abutment on the arm 55 so that axial movement of the shaft '54 will rock the arm 55 and transmit axial move-- ment to the rod 63 which, in turn, will rotate the shafts 52 through the mechanism heretofore described and thus regulate the push rod sections 33 oni the curved faces 36 of the rock levers, whereby the volume in the fuel charges injected into the cylinder from the nozzles is regulated.

A servo-cylinder i5 is fixed to one side of the crank case, and leading into the closed end thereof is a conduit 15 which is in open communication with the pressure lubricating system 'of the engine.v Within the cylinder 75 is a piston iregisterwith the ports 18, then lubricant flows through the servo-cylinder directly into the crank case, but when the sleeve 13 is moved to a position so that the ports 19 do not register with the ports 18 in the hollow shaft, then oil is trapped in the cylinder and will move the piston l1 toward the right, looking at Fig. 4, against the action of the coil spring 65.

The position of the sleeve 13 is controlled by the bell crank 10 and the arm thereof terminates in a fork which engages with a collar 8| slidably mounted on the cam shaft 38 adjacent the arm 55. This cam shaft terminates in a hollow end into which is telescoped a shaft 82 and a bolt 83 secures the collar, the cam shaft and the shaft 82 together so that they will rotate in unison, however, the collar can be adjusted axially on the cam shaft due to the slots 84 provided therethrough.

Governor mechanism is associated with the front end of the cam shaft just previously referred to and includes a casing 85 which is keyed to the end of the cam shaft and has fixed thereto an arbor 86 carrying shafts 8'! upon which governor weights 88 are pivotally mounted. The governor weights have arms which engage with a flange on abearing member 89 whichis screwed upon the front end of the shaft 82, and arranged within the end of the cam shaft is provided a coil spring 95 which engages against a shoulder on the shaft 82 and the arbor member 85 to normally move the shaft 82'inwardly so that the bearing .member 89 will tend to move the governor weights to the position shown in Fig. 4.

As the speed of the engine increases or decreases, the rotation of the cam shafts will likewise increase or decrease and upon an increase in speed the governor weights 88 will move outwardly, thus moving the bearing member and the shaft 82 fixed thereto axially in a direction away from the front end of the hollow cam shaft. Such movement, the through means of the bolt 83, will move the collar 8! and swing the bell crank on its pivot l I, thereby moving the sleeve 13 in a direction such that the ports "59 will move to register 'with the ports 18 and upon registration of such ports lubricant flow will be unrestricted through the shaft mechanism, and the spring 66 will move the'rod 63 axially toward the left, :as viewed in Fig; 4, thus moving the push rod mechanisms 33 on both sides of the engine in an outward direction and thereby reducing the effective stroke of the fuel injection plungers whereby a smaller volume of fuel will be injected into the cylinders. Conversely as the speed of the engine is reduced, the governor weights will move towardeach other allowing the spring 90 to push the shaft 82 inwardly of the cam shaft and to move the sleeve 8| rearwardly of the engine and thereby move the bell crank 10 in a direction such that the sleeve 13 is moved toward the right, as viewed in Fig. 4. Thus the ports 19 move out of registration with the ports 18 and trap the lubricant flowing into the servo-cylinder so that the pressure will move the piston 11 toward the right, and through its engagement with the arm 55 will rock the same toward the right and impart a similar movement to the rod 63. This movement of the arm and the rod will rock the shaft 52, associated with, the arm, clockwise and the other shaft 52 counter-clockwise and thus will move the push rod sections 33 i in a direction toward the free ends of the curved bearing faces and thereby increase the effective plunger strokes so that the volume of fuel injected from the nozzles will be increased.

The governor mechanism will in this manner maintain a constant R. P. M. of the engine due to the fact that it automatically regulates all of the fuel injection devices as the load increases or decreases. I provide manually adjustable mechanism so that the R. P. M. of the engine which the governor will maintain can be readily varied as the contingencies of the engine operation may demand.

To this end, I enclose the governor mechanism with a forwardly extending housing 9| which is detachably secured to the front end of the crank case and provided with an interior bearing 92 in which a cylinder 93 can reciprocate. This cylinder is provided at its rear end with a bearing disc 9awith which a flange 95, on the bearing 88, is associated, such bearing having a guide end 25 extending beyond the flange and telescoping through the disc and into the cylinder 53 for the purpose of supporting the outer end of cylinder in a pressure relation against the bearing disc 94 which in turn will be under pressure against the flange 95 on the bearing member 85. Assuming that the piston ill is held stationary, the spring 58 will in this manner assist the spring 96 in its effort tending to move the shaft 52 inwardly of the hollow end of the cam shaft and thus normally tending to move the governor weights into ineffective position.

By adjusting the position of the piston ill, the R. P. M. at which the governor weights will. become effective can be regulated. To this end, I provide a bell crank 89, which is fixed on a shaft I80 carried by the casing 9i, having an arm Elli engaging with the piston 9'! and another arm Hi2 extending externally of the casing. On the shaft 58 extending through the front of the casing I83 is an arm EM and a link S85 pivotally connects the arm ms with the arm N32. The bell crank 5'! is rotatably mounted on the shaft 58 and such shaft is carried by suitable bearings H16 mounted in'the housing N33. The shaft 53 is formed with an enlarged portion Hi? from which lugs Hi8 extend radially, and the periphery of this enlarged portion In! between each of the lugs is formed with pairs of oppositely tapering faces H39 upon which rollers II!) are seated. In the operation of the clutch, the lugs I I4 will engage the advance rollers of each pair and unwedge them thus allowing free movement of the device, but when the manual adjustment is completed and the operating lever released then the rollers will all wedge and thus lock the mechanism. Coil springs I E i extend through each of the lugs and normally urge the adjacent rollers in a direction away from the lugs so that they are thus moved upwardly on the inclined faces I09 and into contact with the surrounding portion II2 of the casing I03. The casing I I2 is provided with a cover H3 having lugs IE4 extending inwardly thereof intermediate the lugs on the enlarged portion. of the shaft 58, and there is a roller between each of the lugs on the housing cover and on the enlarged portion of the shaft. Extending from the cover I I3 is an arm i I5 with which suitable linkage or levers, as indicated at MS, can be associated for manual actuation. Upon rotation of this cover I I3, relative to its associated casing I I2, the lugs H4 will be rotated and will unwedge the rollers I II) from the faces I09 and the casing I I2 so that the shaft 58 can be rotated, this rotation taking place through the engagement of the lugs Il4 against the rollers which will be moved to bear against the lugs I 98. Upon release of manual pressure on the arm II 5, then the springs III will move with the rollers into a wedging position between the faces I09 and the casing H2. As a result, the shaft 58 can be manually rotated very readily and it will be locked in any position at which manual pressure is released. Rotation of the shaft 53 will rock the arm I05 and the bell crank I02 through means of the link I05, and in this manner the position of the arm IUI can be adjusted and thus regulate the position of the piston 91. As the arm IEII moves the plunger toward the governor mechanism, increased rotation will be required to move the governor weights outwardly as the pressure against the bearing member 89 has in this manner been increased and, under such circumstances, an increased R. P. M. of the engine must be attained before the governor will actuate the servo-mechanism to decrease the volume of the fuel charges. Likewise when the arm IIJI is moved forwardly, there is less pressure exerted by the piston 91 against the cylinder 93 and the bearing member 81 so that governor weights can become eifective at a lower R. P. M. and will thus control the quantity in the fuel charges so that a lower engine R. P. M. will be maintained irrespective of the load.

The mechanism herein described for controlling the fuel injection devices is preferably set so that the governor mechanism is ineffective below 800 R. P. M. which is sufficient for idling of the engine and therefore it is assured that sumcient fuel will always be introduced into the cylinders to provide a mixture which will cause continued operation of the engine without stalling. It will be understood, however, that the governor mechanism can be set within any practical range of engine speed and that the mechanism can be readily adjusted as the contingencies of operation may require. It will therefore be seen that while the injection devices are operated automatically through servo-mechanism control by a governor, still this regulation is manually adjustable which is desirable for engines utilized as the power plant for boats, trucks, aeroplanes and passenger vehicles and for any other use in which there is a variable load on the engine.

Although the invention has been described in connection with a specific embodiment, the printion opposed to the spring pressure above a. preciples involved are susceptible of numerous other applications which will readily occur to persons skilled in the art. The invention is therefore to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the appended claims. 5

What I claim is:

1. In an internal combustion engine, fuel injection mechanism including means adjustable to regulate the fuel volume delivered, a cam shaft for actuating said adjustable means to cause in- 10 jections, said shaft having a hollow end, servomechanism connected to regulate the adjustable mechanism, an axially movable rod in the hollow end of the shaft, means connecting the rod with the servo-mechanism, and governor means on the shaft operatively associated with the shaft to control the axial position thereof.

2. In an internal combustion engine, fuel injection mechanism including adjustable means for regulating the fuel volume delivered, a cam shaft associated to actuate said mechanism, said shaft having a hollow end, servo-mechanism connected to regulate said adjustable means, an axially movable rod in the hollow shaft end, a connection between the rod and the servo-mechanism, spring means in the shaft engaging the rod to move the servo-mechanism into ineffective position, and governor means carried by the shaft and associated with the rod to move it in adirecdetermined shaft speed whereby the servo-mechanism becomes effective.

3. In an internal combustion engine, fuel injection mechanism including adjustable actuating means, a housing having an, interior bearing, a cylinder axially movable in the bearing, a plunger in the housing, spring means between the cylinder end and the plunger end, means associated withv the plunger to regulate its axial position, a. rod connected to regulate the adjustable actuating means and engaging at one end against the cylinder, and governor means associated with the rod to move it toward the piston as the centrifugal force overcomes the spring pressure.

4.. In an internal combustion engine, fuel injection mechanism including means adjustable to regulate the volume delivered, a cam shaft assodated to actuate said. mechanism, servo-mechanism connected to control said adjustable means, connecting mechanism carried by the shaft for. regulating the servo-mechanism, spring means engaging the connecting mechanism to normally move the servo-mechanism into ineffective position, and governor means carried by the shaft and associated with the connecting mechanism to move it in a direction opposed to the spring pressure above a predetermined shaft speed whereby placing the servo-mechanism in effective posiion.

5. In an internal combustion engine, fuel injection mechanism including adjustable means for regulating the volume delivered, a. cam shaft associated to actuate said mechanism, said shaft having a. hollow end, a servo-mechanism for regulating the adjustable means, a. control sleeve slidable on said shaft and connected with the servo-mechanism, an axially movable rod in the hollow shaft end, a cofinection between the sleeve and the rod, governor means carried by the shaft and associated with the rod to move it in a direction placing the sleeve in position to maintain the servo-mechanism in effective relation when the shaft is rotating above apredetermined speed, and. spring'means opposing the movement of. the

rod in a direction tending to move the servomechanism into efiective relation.

6. In an internal combustion engine, a pair of fuel injection mechanisms having adjustable regulating means, connecting means between the adjustable regulating means of the pair of injection mechanisms, a servo-mechanism engageable with said connecting means, spring means normally urging the connecting means in a direction adjusting the injection mechanisms for small fuel volume delivery, and governor means connected to regulate the servo-mechanism above a predetermined engine speed whereby it will move the connecting means in a direction to adjust the injection mechanisms for increasing the fuel volume delivery.

JESSE G. VINCENT. 

